Paul and I continue to have flashbacks to young parenthood. We each do a bottle feeding during the night. When we return from an evening out, Paul drives the monkeysitter home. And now Lolita is teething. Unfortunately I haven't found any statistics, either published or anecdotal, indicating when permanent teeth erupt in spider monkeys. I suspect nobody knows. Which is unfortunate, because the information could help us pinpoint Lolita's age. We know Chiquito's birthday to within a day or two, because he was tiny when he was orphaned. But we don't know how big Lolita was when her surrogate family adopted her, or even the date. (One aspect of parenthood we'll miss out on this time around is birthday parties.) As soon as Lolita gets a few more teeth it should even the playing (and biting) field, and we'll introduce her to cage time with Chiquito...

My dear friend Lynn, who died in May, waged a valiant battle against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. One of her goals was to visit us in Costa Rica and hold a monkey, and today her husband Jim fulfilled that wish for her. Lolita fell in love with Jim instantly, which she's only done with one other person (our friend Gloria Yeatman). We're sure you're smiling, Lynn :-]

I reserved one day of my trip to the IPS (International Primatological Society) Congress in Cancun, Mexico, to visit The Jungle Place in nearby Playa Del Carmen...about an hour's drive. Although it was closed to the public in August, Heidi graciously welcomed a fellow spider monkey rehabilitator and the experience was invaluable. While their self-imposed "limit" was reached years ago, Heidi and her husband have continued to welcome each and every spider monkey rescued from the illegal pet trade. They currently have a population of 26, which includes two juveniles conceived and born (both times during a full moon!) at the sanctuary. As the number of monkeys has increased the number of cages has too, but because they're linked by skybridges (that can be closed if necessary), the monkeys travel through what has grown into a compound. It's a brilliant design. [The only thing that didn't work was building the cages around the large trees inside them, which have been stripped bare of all leaves.]

Short, sloping skybridge between two cages.

Long, horizontal skybridge between two cages.

With the exception of one older, aggressive male, Heidi still occasionally spends time in the cages with the monkeys...but for the most part she's "hands off." She was particularly determined not to be a surrogate grandmother, and the female who produced two offspring has successfully raised them herself. The Jungle Place is a magical place. And a safe haven for primates rapidly losing their habitat to civilization.

Costa Rica lost up to half of its monkeys in the twelve years between 1995 and 2007 according to ecologist Ronald Sanchez from the University of Costa Rica. Of the four indigenous species (squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, white-faced capuchins, and howler monkeys), the spider monkey was the most affected, with a 72% decline in population from 26,000 to 7,225 individuals. And that was five years ago.

"The principal factor that reduces the populations is always sooner or later the deterioration of habitat," said University of Costa Rica researcher Gustavo Gutierrez. A growing number of developers are taking over their jungle habitat, isolating them in small communities by fragmenting their habitat. This also inhibits the genetic diversity needed to keep them healthy, according to Gutierrez. "What we have is 25 percent of the country in islands, without genetic contact between one island and another," Gutierrez said. According to Sanchez, in order to restore the populations, protected areas will have to be increased, and corridors will have to be created to reconnect the ioslated areas.Source: http://www.explorecostarica.com/newsmanager/publish/Costa_Rica_Monkey_Population_Decreasing.shtmlTime is passing. And in addition to loss of habitat, spider monkeys are still being hunted. Both Chiquito and Lolita were orphaned when their mothers were killed for bush meat. Throw the illegal pet trade into the equation. And the question becomes: "Will there be any spider monkeys left to re-populate with?"

Michele Gawenka

Jane Goodall has always been my hero, and working with primates an aspiration. Africa wasn't in the cards the summer I turned 16, when my parents offered to send me to volunteer, and there was only one class (in physical anthro-pology) when I wanted to study primatology in college. Decades later my husband and I retired in Costa Rica, and this is our journey with spider (and howler) monkeys.